CHAPEL HILL— Anna Evans of Lumberton High School and Drew Williamson of Hugh Cummings High in Burlington have been named winners of the 2003 Athlete of the Year awards by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA).
These are the top athletic awards given by the NCHSAA to honor the most outstanding male and female high school athletes in the state. They were presented at the Dean Smith Center on the University of North Carolina campus during the NCHSAA's Annual Meeting.
Both Evans and Williams were nominated and selected by a special panel of media representatives from across the state. They were each presented with the Pat Best Memorial Trophy, named for the former Goldsboro High principal and president of the NCHSAA who died unexpectedly in 1988.
"We congratulate these fine student-athletes on their great achievements during their high school careers," said Charlie Adams, executive director of the NCHSAA. "Both Anna and Drew.have tremendously impressive credentials along the lines of the previous outstanding winners of this award, and they are also excellent students. We certainly wish them the best in the future."
Williamson has been one of the state's top performers in both football and basketball during his career. The quarterback threw for 3,118 yards during the 2003 season, good for 38 touchdown passes against only two interceptions. His 9,736 career passing yards are the third-best mark in state history while his 116 career TD passes is the second best ever in North Carolina. He was the 2001 Mr. NCHSAA football in his classification, chosen by northcarolina.ihigh.com, and was also selected to the Shrine Bowl football team.
In basketball, he scored over 2,000 points in his career and was the Most Valuable Player of the 2002 state 2-A championship, which Cummings won. A three-time all-conference selection in basketball, he also had over 350 assists and 200 steals in his career. He was named the North State Conference football and basketball Player of the Year on different occasions and was selected to the N.C. Coaches Association East-West all-star game in Greensboro in basketball.
An excellent student, Williamson is a member of the National Honor Society and carries a 3.3 cumulative grade point average. He's exploring his collegiate options, including playing basketball at North Carolina or accepting a scholarship elsewhere, including Old Dominion.
Evans was a three-sport star at Lumberton, in tennis, basketball and softball. She earned all-conference honors three times in tennis, playing number one singles and doubles, three times in softball and twice in basketball. She was the first freshman to play varsity women's basketball at Lumberton in 30 years and went on to be a starting guard on the 2001 state 4-A championship and the 2002 state runner-up, Evans led the Two Rivers Conference in scoring as a senior and shot 41 percent from the three-point line.
The softball catcher already owns five Lumberton school batting records, including batting average and runs batted in, and is currently hitting near .500 this spring. She was the North Carolina winner of the Wendy's High School Heisman award and is valedictorian of her senior class. Evans will attend North Carolina on a prestigious Morehead Scholarship.
Contact: Rick Strunk (919-962-7786)
